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History

The study of public health in Louisiana began in the early 1800s, when New Orleans suffered from endemic malaria and almost yearly epidemics of cholera and yellow fever. Attempts to control tropical diseases led to the establishment of the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834. The founders, a group of young practicing physicians, issued a prospectus which emphasized the lack of knowledge of these diseases and the necessity for studying them in the environment in which they occurred. In 1881, formal instruction in hygiene was offered for the first time. The name of the medical college was changed to Tulane University of Louisiana, College of Medicine, after the Civil War when Paul Tulane bequeathed funds to establish a new university.

A School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was first established in 1912 as a separate entity from the College of Medicine. This arrangement continued until 1919 when the school ceased to be an independent unit and was merged with the College of Medicine.

In 1947, the tropical medicine and preventive medicine departments merged to establish the Department of Tropical Medicine and Public Health in the medical school. Instruction at the graduate level was expanded to a full academic year with programs leading to the degrees of master of public health and master of public health and tropical medicine. A program of study for the degree of doctor of public health was approved in 1950 and the first doctoral degrees were awarded in 1953.

With the rapid expansion in public health and tropical medicine, and the participation of other departments of the School of Medicine in educational activities, an administrative division of graduate public health was created in 1958. In 1961, this administrative division was redesignated as the Division of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Programs leading to degrees of master of science, and doctor of science in hygiene were instituted providing a wide range of preparation for public health careers. In 1967, the Division of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine became the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. The school is a component of the Tulane University Health Sciences Center allied with the School of Medicine, Tulane Regional Primate Research Center, and Tulane University Hospital and Clinic.

Tthe school is organized into seven academic units: community health sciences, biostatistics, environmental health sciences, epidemiology, health systems management, international health and development, and tropical medicine.

Timeline
1834 Medical College of Louisiana established, built upon tropical medicine training and research.
1881 Medical College of Louisiana begins hygiene instruction.
1912 Tulane School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine established; the first such institution in the U.S.
1919 School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine merged with College of Medicine.
1947 Master of Public Health and Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine degree programs began.
1950 Initiation of doctoral training in public health sciences.
1967 School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine reestablished as academic unit of Tulane University.
1988 Masters Internationalist program established with the Peace Corps.
2000 Tulane University Medical Center becomes Tulane University Health Sciences Center.
2000 First MPH graduates to complete their degrees entirely through distance learning.